To the editor:

Virginia Mason Bainbridge Island Medical Center is proud to have served the community for decades from 380 Winslow Way.

We are dedicated to ensuring Virginia Mason provides an exceptional setting for island residents to receive remarkable care for generations.

We appreciate the historical presence of the Winslow Way location, however, the current facility and size of the property limit our ability to expand services to meet the evolving health care needs of the community.

We have been exploring numerous options for a replacement medical center during the past two years. This has been a thoughtful and thorough process in which we have looked at existing facilities and sites, including the existing site, as well as new development alternatives.

The Wintergreen Walk development at High School Road and Highway 305 presents the best opportunity for us to create a facility that will allow for the needed expansion of services and medical procedures. We anticipate moving into our new location in late 2018.

One of our top priorities is to build the right facility in the right setting, and we are mindful of the potential impacts of new development. We will also invite our patients and community residents to take part in planning events that focus on the patient experience at the new facility. Over the next several months, we will announce dates, times and locations of these public events and we hope you and your family will actively participate.

All of us at Virginia Mason Bainbridge Island Medical Center are grateful to be part of this special community and for the opportunity to call a new corner of it home for our medical center of the future. Also, we are very grateful to

Dr. Tom Haggar, owner of the building at our Winslow Way location, for the support he has provided our medical teams through the years.

DR. CATHERINE EDWARDS, Section Head

Virginia Mason Bainbridge Island Medical Center

SHELLY FAGERLUND, Vice President

Virginia Mason Clinic Operations